Russia urges international community to push Ukraine more on peace deal
Monitoring the movement of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine. Photo: OSCE Special Monitoring
(VOVworld) - Moscow accused Kiev on Monday of violating parts of the Minsk peace deal and urged Germany and France, who helped negotiate the deal, to do more to make Kiev stick to the signed agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media that the countries acting as guarantors of the Minsk agreement should carry out their share of responsibility for ensuring the provisions are fulfilled. Artillery fighting near the city of Donetsk has violated the Minsk agreement reached on February 12. Earlier Moscow accused the Kiev government of violating a clause on heavy weapon withdrawal that is part of the Minsk agreement. The Russian Foreign Ministry cited a Reuters video showing Ukrainian heavy weapons near the village of Shirokino. The video shows the Azov battalion using a 122-mm howitzer with a range of 22 km in the village. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry immediately denied the accusation.